CONSERVATION LICENSES

The Town Clerk's office issues various conservation licenses: hunting, fishing, bow, and trapping. The license year runs from October 1 through September 30th. Licenses for the year beginning October 1st generally go on sale during the month of August.

Proof of Residency Required

Providing proof of residency each time a person applies for a resident sporting license is mandated by New York Sate Environmental Conservation Law.

Complying with this law protects the Conservation Fund revenue that provides hunting and fishing resources to you. For example, each time a person fraudulently obtains a Resident Big Game License, $87 is lost to the Conservation Fund (Non-residents Big Game is $100; Resident Big Game is $13)

What Is Acceptable Proof of Residency?

A resident is a person whose domicile is within New York State. A domicile is that place where a person has his or her true, fixed and permanent home to which he or she always intends to return.

There are two categories of acceptable proof of residency:

A current New York State driver's license

An affidavit properly sworn and executed by the applicant which affirms that his/her legal residence during the preceding 30-day period has been within New York State , PLUS one or more of the following items in addition to the affidavit:

Non-driver's ID card which shows NYS residency

W-2 Income Tax Form or NYS-IT-201 Income Tax Form

Current voter registration card

Bank statements

Utility bill

Major credit card bill

Lost Licenses

Lost your old hunting, bow hunting or trapping license? To get a new license to hunt, bow hunt and/or trap, you need to submit one of the following:

Any license for that activity issued to you (from any state or country). For bow hunting, this must be a New York State archery stamp or license issued in 1980 or later.

Proof (a certificate) that you passed the required course(s).

Records of Old Licenses

Don't call DEC. They do not have records of old licenses.

Do look again in your home.

Do contact the agent who sold you your last license and find out if a record of that sale was kept. If the agent has the record, he or she can issue a license.

For course certificates for sportsman, bow hunter and trapper education:

Do bring in your course certificate if you have it. Certificates from other states are acceptable.

If you do not have the certificate:

Do call the Sportsman Education Office in Albany at (518) 457-2994. Give your name and birth date to find out if the office has a record of your successful completion of a specific education course. DEC has records of courses after 1980.

Contact your sportsman education instructor to find if a record of your successful completion of the course was kept on file.

If you cannot produce a license or a certificate, you must take the required courses.